Jewish boy severely beaten in anti-Semitic assault in London

In the latest anti-Semitic incident in the UK, a small Jewish boy was viciously beaten on his way home from school.

An eight-year-old Jewish boy was viciously attacked and beaten on Monday on his way home from school in Stamford Hill, London.

According to Shomrim, the local Jewish neighborhood watch, the attack was “unprovoked.”

The victim described how a white man wearing gloves attacked him from behind, pushed him to the wall and beat him severely.

The boy managed to escape after two people came to his rescue and chased away the suspect. He ran home and then collapsed. He was crying and could not talk for the next four and a half hours, Shomrim reported.

He was taken to hospital due to swelling and marks near his chest, neck, shoulder and face.

“This is a shocking incident! We’re doing all we can to support this young boy and his family, and to assist with the investigation,” Shomrim stated.

Shomrim spokesman Shaye Gluck told the Jewish Chronicle that the “vicious attack” has “affected this young boy’s life severely.”

“He keeps on having flashbacks and goes into shock mode where he loses his speech again,” Gluck said. “It is unacceptable that children can no longer walk home from school safely. Shomrim volunteers have increased patrols in the local area and are scouring through hours of CCTV.”

Stamford Hill is home to a large Jewish population. This is the second attack in the neighborhood in less than a month. In late August, two teenage girls were confronted in an incident described by Shomrim as an “unprovoked anti-Semitic attack.”

Surge of Anti-Semitism in UK

The UK’s Jewish community experienced a surge in anti-Semitic attacks in the past year. A report published by the Community Security Trust (CST) on anti-Semitic occurrences in the UK in 2016 shows an alarming record number of hate incidents.

In the report, published in February, CST recorded 1,309 anti-Semitic incidents nationwide during 2016, a 36-percent increase from the 960 recorded in 2015.

One-third of British Jews has become fearful of mounting anti-Semitic crime and the failure to remove anti-Semites from politics. Many have been considering leaving Britain altogether within the past two years, according to data published by the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) last month.

A survey of 2,025 British Jews shows that only 59 percent feel welcome in the UK; 17 percent feel unwelcome. Over the past two years, 37 percent of British Jews have concealed any Jewish symbols in public.